The AquariusDragoni Chronicles
by Jin Beoulve
Summary: Chapter 2 online, and kicking it! Woo! ::is late::
1. Prologue

It's so...quiet.  
  
I suppose I expected as much. It's not the first time I've been this far below the sea. Hell, I live here, almost. Feels like it lately, anyway. I come here to think, when I need to...lately nothing's been too upsetting, or dramatic. Maybe that's the problem. Jin never did seem like he wanted to sit still for too long, either, anyway.  
  
Jin? Oh, he's my owner. usually known as jinsaotome, if you see him around the higher-end markets and trading posts. Swell guy, real swell. Made his way up to the near the top and kept all his marbles intact while he was at it. I don't see him often, though, anymore. I know what you're thinking, but no. I know he cares. He's laid it on the line several times before for me. I don't doubt he would do so again. I haven't seen him in a while, though he does come by when he can, usually with provisions or new battle equipments for me or the others. I was his first pet, so I usually get my equipment changed regularly, so I'm fully protected in the Dome. Jin's not a poor guy at all, so he can find me tools that can help me better protect myself and my siblings...I owe him for that. ...Heh, I almost feel like I'm talking to someone down here. Maybe the pressure down here is getting to me.  
  
...Nah. I've spent far more times just floating here, hundreds of miles below sea level. Some people pick a thinking spot where no one can disturb them, where they can be alone with their thoughts. I'm one of those guys. Down here, the sheer depths can claim even the hardiest sub or deep sea device, and divers wouldn't even make it halfway here.   
  
I'm a water Shoyru. This's what I do best.  
  
Shoyrus are often given a certain special elemental affinity when they're born. Most pick Air, because, well, we're damn good at flying. And we know it. Others just screw it and go on without any affinity, and keeping to themselves. But Jin and I are alike in the fact that neither of us like to be simply one of the many. It's not our style. We're perfectionists - I wanted to take an element, and make it my own. So after talking with Jin, we'd gone to a contingent of water faeries and asked for their blessing. The faeries just loved me - I guess they don't get many Shoyrus down there. Since then, I can swim better than about anyone, and about as fast as anything. I'm still a good flier, good as any, but down here...under the waves is my home. I'll never regret that decision. After all, Neopets and humans can easily explore the skies, even space. But how many can truly say they've touched the bottom of the Pacific, or can swim with the ease of the noblest of mermaids, even the water faeries themselves, with the constant pull of gravity and pressure bearing on you?  
  
I'm AquariusDragoni. It's what I do.  
  
  
  
  
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Continuing if the reviews are good enough...or if they suck. Who'm I kidding? =D 


	2. Chapter 1 - Ascension

You know, with powers like these, it's kind of easy for one to take them for granted.  
  
Powers like mine, I mean. Being a water Shoyru definitely has its perks - I can change my form to water, either fully or partially; I can swim faster than anything; I can breathe underwater, which obviously comes in handy; and I can envelop water bubbles around most anything underwater, regardless of size. That and I've learned just about everything a water faerie could teach a Neopet, from Water Jet to Bubble Shield, and so on.  
  
I owe those water faeries a ton. They don't give these powers to just anyone who walks in off the street...  
  
I remember the day Jin and I'd decided to get their blessings. We went to Maraqua - man, I miss that place - where a large group of faeries were usually around. I dunno WHY they hung around there, personally I'd be living it up in Faerieland. Awesome place, that. But I'm getting sidetracked...  
  
We eventually came to a huge lagoon, with crystal clear water flowing down a waterfall amid this lush jungle grassland. Oh, it was tres cool. I go back there often, just to see that place.   
  
Jin asked me to chill for a while, while he talked to the faeries themselves. I HATE when he does that. It's kind of annoying when someone has to constantly speak for you, even on important matters that involve, oh, I don't know, THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? I guess it can't be helped, though, especially the way it was back then, when he was my official owner...so I leaned against a rock and waited, while they talked it over, Jin explaining our piece. I gotta admit, that dude has a way of talking anyone into doing anything. One time he even got that old Battle Magic Shop owner to sell him a Wand of the Air Faerie for 2300 NP. 2300 NP!   
  
...I'm getting sidetracked again. Anyway.  
  
So after about 5 minutes, Jin steps aside, and these two water faeries were lying on a rock, looking me over. At the time, I was a kind of navy blue, and I was in pretty good condition, so I wasn't particularly worried about any tests or anything like that.  
  
God, I was so stupid.  
  
Later on, I learned their names - Wilma and Lysa. They're the ones I talk to the most now, since they DID grant me my powers, and stuff. But noooo, they couldn't do that without a kind of test.  
  
"Mmmm..." Wilma'd said. "He looks like the type...but then, I've seen lots of Neopets that look sharp when they're dry, but once they go down there, they come out as if they were run through a washing machine."  
  
She gestured towards the lake behind her, causing me to glance back at the sheer size of it. It was huge, alright, and a little intimidating. Sure, I knew how to swim, but this lake looked about a half a mile deep. No frickin' way I could swim all the way down, if that's the test they were talking about."  
  
Lysa flipped her hair back nonchalantly. Water faeries generally look the same all over - long blonde hair, small blue scaly patches over a little of their skin, and the whole no legs thing. They all have blue eyes, too. Before I'd ascended - as I like to call it - my eyes were a heavy, heavy brown. So I wasn't used to those blue eyes.  
  
Lysa played a little with her long, flowing hair and mused, "Well...we're not doing anything today, are we, Wilma? That whole Battledome thing's been over, and we haven't seen any new takers yet. Why not give the kid a shot? Besides, he looks so adorable, it'd be so nifty to have a cute one like him around."  
  
About then, Jin snickered. Also about then, I elbowed him in the shin, which I know he hates. Wilma stretched, and continued, snapped both of us to attention.  
  
"Mmm...alright, works for me. But watch it, kid. It gets kinda rough down there. Especially since it's been a while since anyone's gone down *there*."  
  
Wilma then explained the entirety of this test. There was a ring down that lake, a large coral ring that doubled as a bracelet. The main objective of the entire test was to locate the bracelet, put it on, and that was that. Lysa'd noted that I didn't even have to think once I put it on; everything'd go from there. Since the sheer depths and pressure were too much for any unendowed being, I was being given a sample of my true powers - a bubble shield, which would surround me as soon as I entered the pond. This'd be to help me breathe, since when you're going a half a mile into water, you kind of worry about air. I wouldn't need to swim so much as glide, so I was pretty confident.  
  
"Don't get too cocky, though," Wilma warned once she noticed my confidence. "There's something down there we sorta put to make this test not so easy. You'll see what I mean once you get close enough to the ring. You'll have *loads* of fun then."  
  
I cocked my eyebrow at that last remark. It's a habit I picked up from Jin, but I think even if he didn't do that, I'd be doing it now. "Something" in tests like these usually came out to traps, or a puzzle I'd have to solve, or something like that. A Lupe friend of mine trying to get his elemental blessing from fire faeries had to solve a type of Rubik's Cube inside a volcanic cave before he passed out from vast amounts of heat. Took him three tries, but he did it. So I was pretty sure of myself. Least I was *then*.  
  
Jin crouched down besides me, and turned his head.  
  
"Hey, little dude...you sure you can handle this?"  
  
Leaning my head back, I responded.  
  
"No prob. This ain't nothin' but a nothin'."  
  
"Alright, but stay cool. It's hard enough getting you to take a bath, much less dive in a lake."  
  
I snorted at that, and folded my arms. "So, uh...when do we begin?"  
  
Wilma idly waved her hand towards the lake. "Whenever you want. There's some weapons down there, if you really need them. You're welcome to use them, and you won't get docked anything if you do. They're pretty necessary, actually." I nodded, and stepped a little towards the pool, intending to just wade my way in.   
  
Woahhhh, but that first step is a doozy.  
  
I didn't know it at the time, but the second I set my foot into the water, I figured it out. It was a sheer, 180 degree drop from the edge of the shoreline to the very bottom of the lake. Not knowing this, I put my weight on the foot entering the pond and promptly - and not on purpose, either - went into a 4 foot dive, spiraling down into the deep. When the realization hit me, I shook off the surprise as best I could, and bolted upright. Sure enough, the bubble shield was there, and I could breathe. Glancing up, I figured I was a ways down already...may as well get started, right?  
  
So I glided - or swam, whichever you prefer - down a ways, dodging a few rock and coral clusters that were floating around. Those things were sharp at some ends, and when your lifeline is a huge bubble, pointy things don't exactly stack up on your priorities. I gotta admit, I wasn't exactly focused on the task at hand. The water was - is - beautiful, crystal clear in every way. There wasn't a single other being in here - no fish, no nothing. I was seemingly all alone here. Looking up, you could easily make out the sun, and the slight ripples caused by my movement. It was hard not to get distracted.   
  
Well, until something caused me to slam into a wall.  
  
That certainly took me by surprise. It felt like a huge wave, a powerful surge of water propelling me into the side of the lake, causing a little dirt to dissolve into the water. Luckily, my bubble didn't break - resilent stuff, that - and I was able to regroup pretty easily and take a look at -  
  
Oh, man. This wasn't going to be easy.  
  
A huge jellyfish, obviously not a Neopet I'd seen before, and I'm pretty read up on the subject. It had huge tentacles, long and greyish-black, about...twelve of them, it looked like. The body itself seemed blue at first, but once I really looked him over, I noticed he was more transparent than anything. Almost a mushroom shape, the body of this thing bobbed a little, then proceeded to swing one of its huge arms towards me. This time, I had enough sense to dive further down, managing to evade the blow as the arm slammed into the wall while I continued diving, all the while planning out a form of attack and figuring out where I was.  
  
Obviously, this was the real test the faeries put down here. I really wished it was a Rubik's Cube after all. At least you can't end up in the hospital playing with those.  
  
I remembered Wilma'd said that I'd find this thing "when I got close enough to the ring", or something to that effect....I'd certainly found it, so the ring - yes! Looking down, I saw the ring embedded in coral, yet pretty loosely binded...it looked easy enough to grab. Of course, there was Tall, Transparent and Ugly over there to worry about first, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't take too kindly towards me getting this thing.  
  
Another swing at me. I dived some more, trying to shake any sense of a pattern as I dodged this one, expecting him to follow up with another slow strike. It was about this time, I remembered something Jin'd told me about battles. "Never expect your opponent to do anything. Because with your luck, he ain't gonna do it." Around then, I looked up, and was hit by that same wave of water that threw me into the wall before. Except this time, it drove me into the ground.  
  
And about then was when my bubble popped.  
  
I was immediately flooded with water, my eyes temporarily blinded at the sudden surge of liquid in them. I almost panicked, pretty sure that yeah, I was going to die. This sucks. I could hold my breath, which I was steadfastly doing, but for how long? Since I was taken by surprise, I hadn't exactly gotten a full breath, so time was way limited. Then I figured, quite hurriedly, that I could use my *own* learned Bubble Shield, since it was an ability I'd learned a while ago, from a standard water faerie in a jar I'd freed, but never used like this. Only one way to find out...  
  
I conjured a little of my power, and the bubble formed around me. Letting out a breath and gasping for air, something I'd taken for granted up until then, I sized up my situation. This bubble wasn't nearly as versatile as the one the faeries had granted me, so I'd have to watch it. Extremely. It seemed thin, but it worked, as obviously I was breathing...Looking up, I saw the watery demon just hovering, almost as if waiting for me to make a move.  
  
I sure did. I hid.  
  
Well, it looked like it to him, anyway. Actually, I was searching for those weapons the faeries'd hinted about down here. Diving next to some coral, I noted a small cave, extremely small, made into the wall of the lagoon. Looking behind me, I felt another giant surge of air coming at me, so I used it. Waiting until the last second, I dove towards the cave, propelled by the wave towards it, and eventually, into it.  
  
Once I steadied myself, I looked over my surroundings. It was a cave, alright - dark one, too. And there were several weapons strewn about...a Sparkshooter, some creepy looking trident, a Black Frost Cannon, a Wand of the Air Faerie - hey, now! A WAF could be my ticket out of here! I reached for me, but...something inside me told me it wasn't what I wanted. I glanced back at that creepy looking trident...I had no idea what it was, or what it did, but it seemed to...call out to me. I didn't hesitate when I took it, and I'm glad I didn't. As soon as I fully gripped it, I felt like...I dunno...one with it. Like an extension of my arm, almost. Sensing this was what I needed, I crept out of the cave. The big dude was still there, alright, and he looked pissed. Didn't see me though...  
  
I pointed the trident at him and somehow, bubbles began to form around it. They at first just gathered around it, but then they slowly moved towards it, clung to it, then were almost absorbed by the weapon. As they did that, the trident seemed to glow, then *I* started to glow, shimmering amid the blue atmosphere. My arm seemed almost...transparent, but I shook it off as just nerves getting to me. The creature noticed this, albeit too late, and rushed at me.   
  
I let the trident go, flinging it towards the creature, and as the weapon edged the jellyfish's side slightly -  
  
It disappeared. Just like that. It wasn't until later I was told it'd been absorbed, just like the bubbles before I'd thrown it.  
  
Gliding up, I took the trident in my hand and made my way back to the ring. I took it in my hand, and felt that feeling again...that feeling like it was a part of me.   
  
Then everything went....blue. 


	3. Chapter 2 - Awakening

After that big explosion of blue, I managed to open my eyes only when the brightness of it died down a little.  
  
I was back on the mainland, surrounded by Jin and the water faeries. It felt kind of weird, admittedly - heck, I'd just had the tremendous battle underwater for a good 30 minutes, and once you're out of it, even if your skin is exactly that of water, it's still hard to -  
  
Skin made of water?  
  
I caught it before everyone else managed to point it out. My whole body seemed to be made of water, although it was doing a good job of not being wet or liquidy. I stood up, and experimented with brushing myself off. Felt just like my body's normal and solid, but it looked so...  
  
"Nice going down there." Wilma finally added in, stretching a little as she did so. "Although I had to take Lysa's account of it, since she had a front row seat." Lysa was busily trying to pop her neck, which had a slight bump on it. "Shyeah, the little guy packs a punch." It was around this time I came to the realization how suddenly that creature had appeared. I snorted.  
  
"So you were the big jellyfish down there, hm?"  
  
"The very same. You handled yourself pretty well. I usually manage to knock out any challengers in about 2 minutes. You went the whole nine yards, and I never did get more than one good shot in."  
  
Wilma brushed back his hair, clearing her throat. "Well, you passed the test, kiddo. So you've got your powers. There isn't much of an instruction manual around, but you've got us to teach you. You're a water Shoyru home. Our home is your home."  
  
With that, she and Lysa smiled, looking as proud as if I'd just bodyslammed 5 Monoceraptors in their name. Was what I'd done THAT big of a deal? Apparently so.  
  
"So...what's with the new look?" I turned to acknowledge Jin, who'd been studying me this entire time. I guess seeing this much of a radical change in his favorite Neopet for months was a bit of a shocker, even more than me, and that body was the only one I had.   
  
Lysa, nodding to Jin, began to explain. "Since AquariusDragoni - may we call you AD? It's easier. Thanks. - managed to complete the trials to the fullest ability, he got the whole bit of water-blessed powers. It's one thing to defeat me with standard weaponry, but he picked the Trident of Common Power..." She trailed off around this point, arousing my suspicion. I'd heard of this Trident of Common Power thingy, Jin even HAD one. But they weren't that great of a weapon...  
  
Lysa continued after regaining her composure. "The Trident of Common Power is a normal trident for the most part - when held by a water faerie or water Neopet, it gains substantial power by drawing from the lifeforms around it. However, you managed to do that even before you fully...manifested in the water, and you infused far more energy into the trident than we could...interesting."  
  
I looked to the side, and saw Jin holding the thing. He tossed it to me, and I reflexively caught it with my left arm. Instantly, it lit up like a Christmas tree - you could feel the pure energy just coming out of it, almost as if it was at capacity. "Right now, the Trident's at full power," Wilma noted. "But it's gaining a lot more energy off of you, and everyone around you, by the second...it should be at full power, but you're managing to infuse even more into it...I guess you're just special like that." She smirked a little, and giggled. Times like this tend to boost my ego, so I cocked my eyebrow and brought the trident to a battle position. It *felt* right...it felt like it was a part of me, almost. I loved this weapon.  
  
"It's yours, by the way."   
  
"Huh? It is?"  
  
"Yeah." Lysa shifted towards me, smiling. "You certainly earned it. And if the weapon is better wielded by you, why not let it be put to better use? Although with your new powers, it'll make you pretty powerful."  
  
"New powers?"  
  
"Mhm. For one, you don't just look like you're made of water, you partially are, or wholly, whenever you want. Just will yourself to liquify, and see what happens."  
  
Liquify, huh? Well, it was certainly worth a try. So I closed my eyes, and just thought of myself as water - that was all it took.   
  
Suddenly, the ground rushed up to meet me. I felt like I was falling, but I didn't land with a big crash...Needless to say, I was confused. Looking up, I managed to piece out that for some reason, I was flat. Then it hit me - I really was water! As in...a puddle on the ground. I tried moving, and succeeded, sliding across the ground..as a puddle. Oh, yeah, this would come in handy! Like the time I accidently locked myself in Jin's closet. Sure, I would've wet his carpet all up, but I would've gotten out in less than 3 days.  
  
Reforming was as easy as liquifying, just imaging myself solid. Lysa and Wilma didn't even have to show me *that*. Took a while getting used to, though - I staggered a bit, getting a chuckle out of Wilma. "It takes some getting used to, but you'll be fine. You can also partially control the shape of your body, so long as you're concentrating enough, but since that part'll be almost wholly water, don't go trying to make swords or something."  
  
Well, crap. No fun for AD.  
  
"Two more things..." Lysa spoke up. "One, you can control the flow of water, and use that to make a bubble shield stronger than the one you had down below. Two..." She stopped and grinned widely at this point. I'm assuming it was her favorite part - it was sure to become mine! "You can dive and swim at massive speeds. Especially if there's a current - if you liquify yourself in water, you become essentially unstoppable in races, since you'll *be* the water. That's about it, but it's certainly a boon, ain't it?" I nodded, absent-mindedly forming my hand into a mace.  
  
Hoo-hooooo, this was gonna be fun.  
  
Jin, absorbing all of this with his arms folded, spoke then. "That about it? All this water talk's making me thirsty as all get out."  
  
"That's about it. AquariusDragoni, all the Water Faeries of Neopia are now your allies and friends. We'll know you on sight. If you ever need a place to rest or information on something, feel free to drop by here or any lagoon. The streams and rivers around the planet tell us things before most others, and we do love visitors. Worthy ones, anyway." Lysa giggled at that.  
  
I smiled, and left about 5 minutes later. Felt like I'd joined the Marines or something...but I felt better about it. Hey, I have allies. And there's nothing wrong with that, is there? 


End file.
